


The Passage: Part 1

by aneterit



Series: Vega Rising [1]
Category: Red Rising Trilogy - Pierce Brown
Genre: Angst, F/F, Original Character(s), dorm - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 23:34:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11542752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aneterit/pseuds/aneterit
Summary: Vega au Naevius has just started her schooling at The Institute on Mars in the hopes of becoming a Peerless Scarred, but first, she has to pass one final test. The Passage.





	The Passage: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> As of right now, I'm just adding to the story as I feel like it.   
> Let me know if I should do anything differently! 
> 
> Thanks for looking! 
> 
> ~aneterit

 I nestle up in bed holding my stuffed pink unicorn, Aurora, tightly in my new dorm. The green silk canopy that surrounds my four poster bed with lavish gold and aqua accents around the room reminds me of my family’s sweet little summer cottage on Luna. 

My mind is racing so fast with excitement that I can barely fall asleep. What house will I be put into? Ceres? Minerva? I am what they considered a LowDraft, but I think it’s horeshit. Those institute proctors seem to only think that nasty, ruthless brutes from old families make good leaders. I will be the first au Naevius to become a Peerless Scarred. 

I scoff, reflecting on the day’s events. I feel the creases around my eyes form the ugly frown that I always make when I get pissed. All of the excitement and wonder I felt through this whole process waned so quickly. I gently set Aurora next to me to move to the window by my bed, hoping that the cool Agean breeze will lull me to sleep.

I stay there a while, looking out at the campus grounds, I’m sure, looking like an angry Red hag. I’ll have to stay there until my usual sweet demeanor returns to my face. I focus on the ground, the campus is beautiful. It looks so fresh and beautiful, I felt as if tomorrow I’d be one of the first students to ever make my way to class on it.

I take slow, even breaths. Thinking about the outfit I have planned for tomorrow. I meditate daily, my mother says it’s the best way to naturally preserve my youthful face. Oh, that scar is really going to make me hideous.

My friend Carina likes to call me a Pixie, she’ll be in my year at The Institute here. I’ll show her that I’m no Pixie. All of my childhood, I’d been living under her shadow. I’m going to change all of that. I always did what she said, her crazy dares, purposely failing lessons, and holding her up, so she can shine like she deserves. God, she’s so gorydamn beautiful. Carina was the whole reason I applied in the first place, my parents wanted me to send my writing samples over to Vogue, but I just couldn’t bare for us to be apart. Who would I be without her. My parents were so furious.

“But you love fashion, my little rose!” My father would coo.

He thinks I’m a gorydamn Pixie too. I’ll show him too. I’ll show the whole Society.  

I had told Carina that, once everything was sent away. That this was all for my dad. She can’t know the truth. She would have stopped me. I think that she loves me too. There it is again. That strange tightness down there. It always comes with a flash of memory, the honeysuckle sweet smell of Carina’s hair as I hold her when she cries over boys. How I can’t help but blush when we’d shower together after riding lessons. The first time we got drunk on summer wine that she stole from her mom and how all I wanted to do was kiss her.

My cheeks heat with shame and I clench my fists in annoyance, the creases from the frown are returning. I can’t think those things about my best friend. We’re practically sisters. My parents would cut me off, they adhere to those old religions. I’m so glad no one can see how ugly I look right now. My mind races even faster now, I try to think about anything. Anything but Carina. Maybe I’ve made a grave mistake. I overheard some kids in the locker room talking about the Passage tomorrow. The final test. A brutal test. I hate tests. I just want to start school already. My anger soon starts to combine with agonizing anxiety. I decide to look up to the moon, is it Phobos? Is it Deimos? Who cares. I shake my head in annoyance and continue to look out of the window.

I close my eyes and breathe. I’ll plan my outfits for the whole week. The whole month, if that’s what it takes.

I don’t know how long I’ve been standing there when suddenly I hear a scream from another dorm. No, screams. They didn’t reverberate like an echo around the buildings. I heard more and more of them, it seemed as though they were getting closer to me.

I turned quickly on my heels to see if I could find out what was happening, when I suddenly found myself paralyzed on the spot. A tall, dark, masked figure loomed directly over me. I want to scream, but no sound comes out. I want to run, or fight, but I just stand there like the dumb Pixie that I am. Before I could even get my senses about me, try to prove myself wrong, I hear him growl.

“Night night, Vega.” A swift punch in the temple, and I was out cold.

 ~~~

I came to to a stinging sensation all over my head. The masked man was dragging me by the hair. I struggled against him, digging my nails into his hands and wrist in an attempt to break away from his grip, but his hand felt like warm iron.

I began kicking and screaming, I must have looked like a wild banshee. Maybe someone will hear me. My hips and knees stung from dragging against the rough stone floors.

If I had my cool wits about me, I would have threatened this man with the might of my father. But only terror consumed me, I was in the presence of what I could only assume under that mask was one among the Peerless Scarred. This is it. This is how I am going to die.

Although I continued to kick and scream and struggle, the pain and the panic seemed to fade away. It was as though I was watching myself from far away down the hall. A small and wild figure bouncing off the ground as a calm mass dragged it along. Her satin gown turning her into a shimmering spark in the grey night.

Suddenly the man jerked and my face knocked against a wall. I sat on the ground swaying, trying to see where I was.

“Buggar” I heard him grunt, at least that’s what it sounded like.

He stuffed a burlap sack over my head.

“Where are you taking me?” I screamed.

Another swift punch in the face and I was out again.


End file.
